Connect with TRB

GOOD PROGRAMS OFFER MANY POOLING ALTERNATIVES

Programs sponsored by three companies in Connecticut and New Jersey are briefly described. The Bell Telephone Company in New Haven sponsors the complete ride sharing program including carpools, buspools, and vanpools. The program which was started as a means of reducing air pollution, saved an estimated 700,000 gallons of gasoline and $550,000 in gasoline expenses in 1974. Ten buses all chartered with drivers run between 40 and 100 miles round trip daily. The vanpool program is designed to pay for itself; the ninth, tenth and eleventh fares usually given to the driver as an incentive will be divided among all of the riders. The Connecticut General Life Insurance Company of Hartford sponsors a program in which 1,100 of 4,200 employees share transportation to and from work. About 250 employees ride the five commuter buses and pay $1.00 per day. Four of the buses commute about 60 miles round trip daily with the fifth traveling 30-40 miles round trip each day. At Hoffman-La Roche, in Nutley, 156 (of 5,500 employees) ride 18 vans. The program is designed to break even with employees paying from $13.80 per month for a 10-mile round trip each day to $27 per month for a 100-mile round trip. All fixed and operating costs are calculated on a sliding scale which makes the fares just a little lower than those in other programs.